My PoV as a longtime AM/Shaman player:
ReturnOfReckoning wrote: Fri Sep 05, 2025 5:00 pm
Buffs and Debuffs
AoE damage and healing abilities do less damage and less healing than their single target counterparts. We are applying the same principle to buffs and debuffs. Single target buffs and debuffs have been made slightly stronger and their AoE versions slightly weaker. In a future patch we will also address procs from gear, setting those equal to the AoE versions.
ReturnOfReckoning wrote:
Archmage & Shaman
For the new mechanic of the Archmage and Shaman the feedback is that the mechanic flows better for DPS specs than for Healer specs. The main reason is that healing Archmages and Shamans often feel stuck at 5 Tranquility / Gork’s Waaagh!. With this patch we made changes to promote using your 5 Tranquility / Gork’s Waaagh!, instead of sitting at 5 Tranquility / Gork’s Waaagh!, waiting for the need to burst heal.
This does not seem entirely accurate. Even by tooltip, the total healing output of the group heal is higher than the ST heal, while the ST heal only has a slightly shorter cast time.
Example (Shaman, 669 Willpower, full Gork’s Waaagh!):
— ST Heal: 1.0s cast, 1,440 healing (one target)
— Group Heal: 1.3s cast, 1,131 upfront + 801 healing over 5s = 1,932 total per target
- In practice, the “overall gain” of spending 5 GCDs on HoTs to build Tranquility/Gork’s Waaagh! and then using a group heal (ticking alongside other HoTs) is always more valuable than sitting at 5 stacks. The healer gameplay loop is not really stuck (and arguably never was).
- In this state, the new version of the ST heal feels not worth using. It has even been nerfed, since it was previously instant at 5 stacks. Now it provides only a very marginal DPS boost, and only for a limited set of classes (e.g. low auto-attack rate 2H).
The core issue leading to being “stuck” comes from the design of the class mechanic for healers. Similar to pre-rework Mork’s Waaagh/Force, it remains hard to utilize effectively because:
- In regular gameplay you must maintain HoTs and cleanses on your group, otherwise you neglect core healing duties.
- In most RoR PvP situations, you rarely have the comfort to stand still and cast ST heal sequences without sacrificing group HoTs — except during M2 spam. Casting Healing Energy / Gork’ll Fix It will not save a target in real danger.
- Some cases of class mechanic usage still don’t make sense. For example: what is the point of spending 5 stacks of Tranquility/Gork’s Waaagh! on Healing Energy / Gork’ll Fix It? On the stat example above, the healing changes from 405 → 593 initial healing plus 152/sec ticks for 5s. This feels underwhelming compared to group healing (see above).
- The overall time investment to build Force/Morks is much higher than the potential increase in healing from the boosted abilities. For example: AM’s group HoT can be boosted by 5 stacks (adding 2 extra ticks and ~100 more healing per tick on a similar stat base), but the minimum sequence to reach 5 Force (1 tick of Searing Touch + 4× Healing Energy = 5 GCDs + ~4s cast time with possible setbacks) doesn’t pay off compared to just applying 5 instants through HoTs/Cleanses/Shielding and then using Tranquility stacks for group healing and such.
On that note, there are a few things that need to be looked at from my PoV and some ideas:
- Building Force/Morks needs to be re-evaluated in terms of GCD + cast-time investment versus outcome. Right now it feels like the values for mechanic-boosted spells are based more on “feeling” than on data, because healing is already achieved perfectly without using Force/Morks at all — especially with the new tactics that have already changed AM/Shaman playstyle (see Empowered Lores). Group healing is a good example of return on investment, since it continues to heal while allowing you to cast spells that require casttime.
- The 1-second cast heal has both direct and HoT components, which contradicts the intended design split between HoTs/DoTs vs. ST heals/damage. This ability may need a complete revision in terms of how it interacts with the class mechanic. Maybe something like giving a stack to either class mechanic that you currently build.
- The theme for Shaman and AM could evolve around their channel abilities, with each tick consuming/building class mechanic. (This would require giving Shaman a similar ability to Funnel Essence and reevaluating the healing output of those abilities.)
- Introduce or rework an ability that allows shifting class mechanic stacks from one side to the other, similar to what Swordmaster has — but without negatively impacting the DPS archetype, possibly by applying a drawback like increased cooldowns.
- Finally - The change to *Boon of Hysh* feels very poor in my opinion, as it goes directly against what was stated (that ST heals should be stronger) — instead, it actually nerfs the ST ability even further. This will especially impact Shamans, who already lack sustained healing after using Mork's Gift, compared to AM’s *Funnel Essence* which provides multiple ticks - hence sustain healing for a time.
